The World Health Organization is celebrating World Food Safety Day to advance food safety awareness in the public agenda and help prevent, detect and reduce foodborne diseases globally. This year the theme is “science in action” promoting scientific knowledge as a key to reducing illness and saving lives. Global organizations, industry associations, universities, and industry thought leaders are collectively sharing ways to improve food safety including validated cleaning and sanitation, proper hand washing, accurate temperature controls, and effective training and education.  

Effective training and education play a crucial role in food safety. But how can science guide us in creating training that drives compliance? The answer lies in the wealth of scientific and empirical evidence gathered over the years, which supports the connection between effective training and improved food safety outcomes. Drawing from organizational psychology, management science, and behavioral economics, we can uncover key insights into how training fosters compliance and operational excellence.

Let’s look at some of those scientific principles and findings:

1. Training improves employee knowledge and skills. Let’s face it, many of our employees come from all walks of life and may not be educated on the specific hazards and risks of food pathogens. Manufacturers can lean on the Cognitive Learning Theory concepts for more effective training that enhances employees’ understanding of food safety policies, procedures, and the why behind them. Studies show that knowledge retention and task competence significantly improve when training is interactive, contextualized, and repeated over time (Salas et al., 2012).

• Positive Reinforcement encourages behavior compliance. Often, we educate employees through PowerPoints and instructor-led training in training rooms. Then what? It leaves us wondering why employees aren’t exhibiting the trained behaviors on the plant floor. We can look to B. F. Skinner and Behavioral Psychology and incorporate positive reinforcement to recognize our employees’ desired food safety behaviors. When employees understand what is expected and are provided on-the-floor coaching and reinforcement, they are more likely to follow our food safety procedures consistently.

• Clear food safety accountability improves compliance. Do employees think the Quality Control Team is solely responsible for food safety? It’s imperative that each employee clearly understands their food safety role and responsibilities. Applying Role Theory, food safety training helps to clarify employees’ food safety roles and responsibilities and reduces variability in their food safety compliance performance. The Survey of Frontline Employee Training Programs found food manufacturers with cross-functional team members on their training team have better outcomes, including a 43% increase in workers’ ability to proactively identify a risk and prevent it from happening. 

• Engaged and motivated employees provide increased productivity and boosts performance. At some point every day, manufacturers rely on each employee to “do the right thing” when no one is looking. If we look to Self-Determination Theory, you can see that effective training can enhance motivation by supporting competence, relatedness (understanding organizational needs), and autonomy to make those right decisions. It’s clear that motivated employees are more likely to follow procedures because they understand and value them. For proof, the Survey of Frontline Employee Training Programs found companies with highly motivated employees see a 240% increase in consistent application of established protocols on the floor. An added bonus, you will also retain those motivated and engaged employees longer!

It’s clear that effective employee food safety training has a key role in food safety compliance.

Effective training:

• Enhances knowledge
• Reinforces desired behaviors
• Reduces knowledge uncertainty
• Boosts motivation

These benefits are well supported by both theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence, making training a foundational tool for achieving operational food safety compliance.

Here at Intertek Alchemy, our purpose is to help build a safer world. Our guiding principle to help achieve this mission is “people make the difference.” We are proud to be on this journey with thousands of clients of every size who share our true passion — enriching the lives of millions of workers. If you want to see science in action with training, reach out for a free demo.